'Hard, but therapeutic': Husband of dog walker lost for three days pens book about experience
It's been six months since Annette Poitras endured a harrowing ordeal on Burke Mountain
The husband of dog walker who spent a harrowing three days lost in the woods on Coquitlam's Burke Mountain has penned a book about the experience.
In November, Annette Poitras and three dogs had set off for a two-hour walk in the woods, but she slipped on a log as they made their way out, injuring her side so seriously she couldn't walk any farther.
After a multi-day search in wet and stormy conditions, rescuers located her and used a helicopter long line to pluck her to safety.
Search and rescue members said if Poitras had not been rescued that night, she may not have made it off the mountain.
Poitras has not read the book, titled Three-Dog Nights, saying she's still not ready to relive the experience.
It was co-authored by her husband, Marcel Poitras, and local writer Anne Bruinn, who approached the couple and asked if she could write their story.
"It was so compelling," said Bruinn, who had watched coverage of the story as it unfolded. "I had so many questions and I just had to know.
"I was writing through tears, because it's such an emotional story. It was really hard to imagine her lying there and giving up."
In order to finish the story, Bruinn eventually moved into the couple's basement suite for nine days, interviewing them and sending drafts back and forth to Marcel.
'Emotional adrenaline'
Marcel said the writing process was "hard, but therapeutic."
"When I think back on those three days when Annette was gone, those emotions were so raw. The emotional adrenaline that was going on at the time, I remember it so clearly."
It's been exactly six months since Annette disappeared. She said she hopes to eventually read the book, once she's ready.
"It's like reliving the what if's? What could I have done? I have nightmares still. Physically, I'm fine, but I have to get over it," she said.
"The worst part was I was so thirsty and cold and wet and I could not get dry. I was just freezing all night and my teeth were just chattering," she said.
Reflecting on the days that she was missing, she said her dogs are what kept her spirits up.
"I wanted to protect them and make sure we got off that mountain alive."
The proceeds from the book will go in part to search and rescue teams.
With files from Angela Sterritt